India will meet Ireland for the third time. It has defeated Ireland comfortably by 5 wickets in the 2011 World Cup. In this World Cup India with 4 consecutive wins and Ireland with 3 out of 4 wins have surprised everyone. India is already in the quarterfinals, but Ireland needs to win one more to guarantee on own its entry to quarterfinals. The teams appear a mismatch in bowling where Indians rule, but in batting Ireland batsmen appear to have slight edge in this World Cup so far. Check the bowling and batting differences. Check the comparison of performances of both teams based on the last four matches.

Ireland Has Edge in Batting
Indian batting has not been tested and all have not batted properly so far, while Ireland’s batsmen display the diverity India and Ireland have played 4 matches each. 7 batsmen from Ireland have aggregated 100+ runs while only 3 batsmen are in the 100 run club for India and there last three players are yet to bat. 233 runs is the highest aggregate of batsmen from both the teams. For India it is Dhawan, while for Ireland it is Ed Joyce.

Ireland has 1 century and 7 half-centuries, while India has 2 centuries and 4 half-centuries. Both have scored 2 300+ scores so far in World Cup 2014, but India as conceded none as compared to Ireland which has conceded 300+ scores in 3 out of 4 matches they have played.

India has 4 100+ partnerships while none has been made against it.
Ireland has 2 100+ partnerships while 5 such partnerships have been made against it.

Indian Bowling Much Superior
Indian bowling has worked as a unit. Two of the bowlers have grabbed 9 wickets each while three more has grabbed 6 wickets each. In Contrast, the two highest wicket-taker bowlers of Ireland have taken 6 wickets each. One of them is KJ’Brien who has already registered two of the three most expensive bowling spells of World Cup 2015.

Indians have grabbed all 40 wickets in 4 matches, while bowling has been Achilles heel for Ireland whose bowelrs have grabbed only 29 wickets. Bowlers have been expensive too having been able to bowl only 6 maidens whereas Indian bowlers have 14 maidens against their name, second only to 19 maidens by New Zealand.

Best economic bowling from Ireland has come from McBrine (2.60) while for India it is Umesh Yadav (2.30) and Ashwin (2.50).

None of the Indian bowlers have conceded 7 runs per over in any of the 4 matches but Ireland bowlers have at least 6 occasions of such performance in World Cup 2015.

Conclusion
Based on the batting and bowling analyis it appears like one of the toughest test for Indian bowlers. Their accuracy of the last 4 matches in World Cup will be tested the maximum against the Irish team where even No. 8 can hit longer and score substantial runs.

In batting, Ireland has an edge and almost all of its batsmen have batted so far in World Cup 2015. But Indian batting has been more about Middle order that comprises of Kohli, Rahane with some help from opener Rahane. Rest have remained untested so far.

Ireland is certainly no more playing like a minnow. It is probably India’s biggest challenge at the group.